Rolls Royce UAV Engine Successfully Completes Air Force Flight Test

The growth variant of the AE 3007H engine for UAVs from Rolls Royce has cleared the flight tests conducted by the US Air Force. These flight tests are entirely funded by the US Air Force.

The new engine has been specifically designed to improve the performance of the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV with enhanced toughness and cost reductions. Particularly the new engine improves the operation of the turbines and fuel nozzles. Rolls Royce had started developing the engine in 2008.

The announcement of the completion of testing was made by Rolls Royce at the annual Air Force Association Air & Space Conference which is being held near Washington, DC. And the testing process was conducted on the RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft from Northrop Grumman. The result of the testing process showed that the aircraft and the new engine performed well as required. The Vice President at Rolls Royce considered the new engine as a significant milestone in their performance over the years.

The Block III advancement of the engine extends the life of the turbine considerably and almost doubles the flight time. The engine can be fitted on the maritime surveillance unmanned aircraft system of the US Navy and the Global Hawk of the US Air Force and other similar vehicles that may be built in the future. The RQ-4 Global Hawk is run by the AE3007H turbofan engine from Rolls Royce.